I have no basis to go that far. The purchase was just finalized a few weeks ago, it probably hasn't even been thought about yet, so no. But it's an interesting chain of connections each link of which has fallen into place just this year: Lotus - Finnish driver - Angry Birds - Star Wars - Disney.And what does a dandruff shampoo get out of F1?

They - the dandruff producer - needs advertising to get us consumers to choose just their product. I'd imagine the dynamic is a bit different for movie/cartoon maker.

I'm a dandruff producer, and nobody's buying any. But seriously, if that throw-away rhetorical question was what got your attention, I'm not naive enough to need to be told why people advertise. So, you think Angry Birds simply bought the privilege to link up with Star Wars, with no other benefit to Lucasfilms/now-Disney? And were given a free hand to do whatever they wished with the Star Wars brand? And please bear in mind that I was not the one to suggest that Disney were in any way interested in F1 sponsorship, I just found it curious that no one had brought up the Lucasfilms purchase.

Thing is... How to to explain it? I can very well understand a punctual sponsorship from Disney, the same way Lotus did with Batman this year or Red Bull did with Superman a few years ago. Advertising with Lotus gives them quite a big secured screen-time: Lotus are usually quite close to the race lead and, since they don't qualify too well, they are involved in a lot of 'fights' with other cars in every race. But I, somehow, can't see what an advantage a company like Disney could get from a 5-year sponsorship deal in F1. I admit, I don't have a clue about marketing, though, and it would not be that weird if I'm missing something important.

EDIT: @fum3s: where did your post go? If you want, I can delete my answer.

Lotus apparently as signed a mega sponsor deal worth 32 Mio $ every year for 5+3 years, so it worth max 252 Mio $. Sponsor is rumored to be a top 100 company from the USA. Lotus F1 Team has the rights of the Lotus name until 2020 secured.Already in Austin Lotus F1 will introduce another north american sponsor on the car.

from swiss Speedweek magazine 47, 2012

Well, if Coca-Cola is coming to F1 with the energy drink brand Burn, as Joe Saward speculates, then this could well be it. The black livery of Lotus would suit the Burn brand perfectly.

Thing is... How to to explain it? I can very well understand a punctual sponsorship from Disney, the same way Lotus did with Batman this year or Red Bull did with Superman a few years ago. Advertising with Lotus gives them quite a big secured screen-time: Lotus are usually quite close to the race lead and, since they don't qualify too well, they are involved in a lot of 'fights' with other cars in every race. But I, somehow, can't see what an advantage a company like Disney could get from a 5-year sponsorship deal in F1. I admit, I don't have a clue about marketing, though, and it would not be that weird if I'm missing something important.

EDIT: @fum3s: where did your post go? If you want, I can delete my answer.

I read today, that the majority of Disney's money comes from their sport channel (ESPN I think) and something else I don't remember now. However I believe any kind of sponsorship if it gets announced

StarTV commentators saying Lotus changing a few settings in Kimi's KERS as the braking in the track is less, and they have to increase the way the KERS is charged under braking.

EDIT: Now, they are saying they are changing a sensor of the engine since it was not giving them some sort of encompassing/scanning data. It is to optimize the air-fuel mixture they say. Kimi doing those runs now. So, his car not yet set for the race. Would be in a short while after his pit visit, I think.

I think the Lotus has a lot of pace this weekend, and atleast on Sunday they'll be doing top five times again I think. 2.5 secs back with primes means they could've been just a couple of tenths off the McLaren's.

...but, it's only Friday free, AND the track is a totally green and greasy/dusty un-known. The shake-up tomorrow could be very noticeable.

Kimi is 3rd in standings. By downplaying his car you make him look much better in comparison with others. It looks like he dragged a dog of a car into 3rd place which is remarkable achievment.

Yeah, but it´s still BS. Let´s not play the Alonso car and downplay the car, please. Lotus has been a really good car to be on. Comfortably 4th best over the season, and not far from the other 3 top teams.

Yeah, but it´s still BS. Let´s not play the Alonso car and downplay the car, please. Lotus has been a really good car to be on. Comfortably 4th best over the season, and not far from the other 3 top teams.

On pure pace they are far from Red Bull/Mclaren. They just have a smart driver who keeps it away from trouble in races and a good tire management.

I have to laugh at those of you drawing absolute conclusions about the Lotuses pace from yesterdays free practice! First of all, it was Friday free afterall, but more importantly, they set their fastest laps on the primes, and typically there was a one second improvement with the options. Lotus are fine.